Pumps are used in all manner of commercial, industrial, and household applications, from small pumping mechanisms in household appliances up to large scale industrial and resource extraction systems, for example. While there are nearly as many different types of pump designs as there are pump applications, two common pump types are reciprocating pumps and rotary pumps. In a rotary pump, an impeller is commonly provided to suck liquid into the pump housing and discharge it at a pump outlet for whatever the end use might be. Reciprocating pumps generally include one or more plungers that travel in a linear manner, alternating between an intake stroke and a pumping stroke. Other known pumps include diaphragm pumps, rotary vane pumps, and still others.
In many applications, pumps operate to transfer a liquid without concern for varying a pressure of the liquid, with the primary purpose being simply to move the liquid from one place to another. In certain other applications it can be desirable to use a pump to increase the pressure of a liquid. Pumps used in hydraulic systems for working equipment or industrial systems, pressure washers, and hydraulic fracturing pumps to name a few examples generally increase the pressure of the working liquid at least several times, and potentially many times, over the pressure at which the liquid is supplied. Such pumps commonly operate under relatively harsh conditions, often reciprocating at high speeds and subjecting internal components to fairly extreme pressures.
In some instances, including some of the more heavy duty applications, the well-known phenomenon of cavitation can occur within the pump. In cavitation a transient bubble of vapor forms in the liquid and then collapses, producing a shockwave of sorts. While the results of cavitation in the nature of erosion, pitting, cracking or other damage to pump components are readily recognized, the physics behind cavitation and the circumstances that can lead to cavitation have long defied attempts at a deeper understanding. Complicating prior attempts at analysis is the diversity of pump designs and even variations in pump and working fluid behavior across the various different types of fluids that can be used. Commonly-owned U.S. Pat. No. 7,797,142 to Salomon et al. is directed to simulating cavitation damage, and proposes a computer-implemented method that simulates a potential for cavitation damage, and displays a histogram in which locations of vapor implosion pressure events can be visually distinguished on a surface of a modeled component.